DEM not gonna CON dis NATION: Rolling UK politics in the short-lived Cleggeron era

Think if they wanted an actual elected politician they've have a choice of two iirc.

So she's worried about the anti-Islam press but comes out with unsubstantiated claims in which she blames asian communties?

From her numerous appearances on TV over the years this woman appears to be an idiot - albeit a useful for one for the Tories

i still fail to see why the milis couldn't have formed an RFK-JFK style dynamic duo

tho i guess RFK and JFK's brilliant move in that regard was to not uh run for president at the same time as each other

i think you're underestimating the older/younger dynamic too. and kennedy sr. basically told them what to do careerwise iirc. the miliband's don't really have that (via dead father). the situations aren't that comparable.

In the old days the press made all this sound like great fun—all those beautiful rich people playing touch football on the lawn—but in retrospect, one suspects it was hard duty being one of Joseph P. Kennedy’s four sons. The competition, according to Teddy’s memoir, was not part of a paternal plan to develop a son into a president, but only a way of preparing them all to excel in “public service.”

^^^ pretty important part of making what is an unusual situation work. kennedys are total outliers in this regard.

taking into account their privileged starting position, it's not hugely onerous either imo.like four sons of a well respected farmer jockeying to become a local councillor or w/e

nah, kennedy bros took turns by age and had a boss.

sounds like a man utd night out

BOOM

Looks like the tactic of pulling Warsi out of Question Time and shunting Grant Shapps on in her place backfired, then.

w'happen

Just dreadful bollocks the whole way through, nothing stand out.

that's probably an improvement on lady w and the likelihood of her saying something blogworthily dreadful

nominations accepted for a morbish nickname for her ......

actually i don't think any uk pol has a morbsname yet? get to work ppl

Hospitals - Encouraged to move outside the NHS to become "vibrant" industry of social enterprises

FUCK OFF FUCK OFF FUCK OFF.

Nice one, Liberals

The BMA also took issue with the "obsession" with competition, saying GPs would be set against hospitals - one of the objectives of the changes is to get more care done more cheaply outside hospitals.

No shit. I've no idea how "competition" is supposed to work in the NHS, or "choice" for that matter. I want my local hospital in Lewisham to be as good as possible if I need an operation, I don't want to "choose" to go to Enfield for it.

I blame Blair and Patricia Hewitt in particular for totally buying into all this bullshit, it seemed screamingly obvious it would enable the Tories to sell the NHS off piece by piece as soon as they got back in.

one of the objectives of the changes is to get more care done more cheaply outside hospitals.

.. bus drivers to supervise baby deliveries

Operations to be carried out in the car park

Hey Mark - it's the story near the end - http://hackneypodcast.co.uk/2010/02/edition-17-buses/

Don't give a fuck about this, never heard of it before but this quote:

"Nothing is more symbolic of Labour's war on the motorist than the M4 bus lane."

Cunts.

Gah. Mildly off topic, but that quote reminds me that whenever there's a tube strike in London, and the roads are jammed to gridlock, I think 'This is what you want? This is how public transport funding is war on the motorist is it? You massive massive twats. You're going nowhere'

Not sure giving motorways their own bus lane is really sensible in the first place.

for heathrow it makes sense, but generally nah not really

Was just reading some things on the bus lane, and this is a pretty good summary http://www.stableandprincipled.com/content/2010-10-01/wheels-bus-dont-go-round-and-round - there's a massive bottleneck because the elevated M4's only 2-lanes. Bus lane was only introduced because a load of empty space would look even worse.

Every Liberal Democrat supporter in the country should be sat down and made to watch single second of the Tory Conference, from beginning to end

i'm sure like most tories they'll have better things to do

David Cameron has launched a robust defence of the Government's economic policies, claiming they had been successful in getting Britain out of the "danger zone".

The Prime Minister said it had been essential to go in "hard and fast" in dealing with the deficit, an approach backed by the CBI, the IMF and the G20.

Yeah, it really worked for Ireland, didn't it? Backed by the geniuses at the IMF to boot.

A week of this shit to look forward too. I think I might go on holiday.

Under the new plans, "if you can work and if you're offered a job and you don't take it, you cannot continue to claim benefits. It will be extremely tough," he said.

it will be extremely tough and you may have to just die instead

Those new plans sound a lot like the old plans.

But on the other hand let us look at the issue of dependency where we have trapped people in poverty through the extent of welfare that they have... in terms of the work-related benefits you need a system that means you are always better off in work and working hard."

Shit like this makes me so fucking angry. If people on benefits are better off then they would be in work it's because wages are TOO FUCKING LOW. Benefit claimants can't simultaneously be too well off AND trapped in poverty. What he's saying is they should be in working poverty instead. This should lead to rioting in the streets, but it probably won't.

lol http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-11461823

Yes, that's the part that always makes me mad. It costs about £20K a year in order for a single person to live here in a way that's not hand-to-mouth (FYI that's a wage of £400/week or £10/hr and you'll be paying a minimum of £400/month for rent in London, plus myriad monthly bills).

Oh it's so immature of me but whenever Warsi speaks I want to offer the following as translation service: 'ner ner ner, ner ner ner, blah blah'.

Yes, that's the part that always makes me mad. It costs about £20K a year in order for a single person to live here in a way that's not hand-to-mouth

This seems really untrue to me, but maybe we have different definitions of hand-to-mouth.

I define it as spending 25 per cent of income on rent instead of over half while having the opportunity to save a bit and not suffer with 'too much month at the end of the money' syndrome. Also, £5k of the £20k comes out in tax before the cash even lands in the bank, so you're really on a budget of £15k and over half of that is going to be non-food bills and council tax. On the c. £7/hr advocates of the living wage are promoting, that adds up to an income of £14,560/year - not really enough to live here, is it?

there are lots of facets to this, including pension provision -- pretty hard to pay into a pension scheme on less than £20k, and it seems pretty unlikely the state pension will mean a thing in a generation's time -- and the banking sector controlled racket that is the housing 'market': state benefits flow not very indirectly towards the landlords (and, so, the banks) as things stand. it's not so much a question of numbers but about the structure of the economy.

^^^ Bingo, that's why everyone's been encouraged to paper over the cracks with consumer credit for a generation and oh shit what do you mean it went tits-up?

perhaps being a bit London-centric. you can surive perfectly well on less than 20k in Glasgow for instance. I technically earn under 20k, my basic is 17, but with overtime i can, and do, make a before tax maybe around 24. some months i don't bother to do OT and i get by fine, having money at the end of the month, despite the fact that i'm profligate with money and drink rather a lot. my rent, in the city centre, is 350, around a third of my basic take home, and i make a pension contribution as well.

xps - bloody Warsi (wARSEY more like amirite?) - I think she got off lightly there tbh.
"concerns raised by associations" - this is such bullshit.

warsi has made a fool of herself -- there almost certainly was voter fraud in tower hamlets; it was being reported even before the election, but it's stupid to make these accusations and not go all-in

£15k and over half of that is going to be non-food bills and council tax

That's 'non-food bills and council tax' of over £625 a month - surely no-one pays that much?

HM's point about pensions is a good one I think.

Precisely, she looks an idiot for not substantiating the claim. Warsi always strikes me as an asian from a privileged background who gets all annoyed cos the asian community won't just do what they're told and vote tory.

That's 'non-food bills and council tax' of over £625 a month - surely no-one pays that much?

she's including rent in non-food bills so, yes, they do pay that!

Oh the Warsi speech right now is unbearable. Apparently Mandelson is some kind of incompetent cunt and Eric Pickles is an amazing genius.